Passo Gardena - Col Turont

Access to starting point:
A) From Kranjska Gora via Korensko sedlo to Austria, where at the first larger intersection we continue left towards Podklošter / Arnoldstein and Trbiž / Tarvisio. At the end of the settlement Podklošter signs for Šmohor / Hermagor direct us right onto a regional road, on which past the mentioned settlement we drive to the end of the Gailtal valley, or more precisely to the settlement Kötschach-Mauthen, where we turn right towards the settlement Oberdrauburg. The route ahead leads us over the Alpine pass Gailbergsattel (982 m), after which we descend into the mentioned settlement. After crossing the bridge over the Drava river, we continue left towards the settlement Lienz. In the main roundabout in Lienz we continue "left" in the direction of the settlement Sillian and Italy. Further, we cross the border between Austria and Italy, and we follow the main road past settlements Dobbiaco / Toblach, Villabassa / Niederdorf, Monguelfo - Tesido / Welsberg - Taisten, Brunico / Bruneck. Only a little after the last-mentioned settlement, past which leads a bypass road, we turn left into the Alta Badia valley. Further, we drive through the mentioned valley and in the settlement La Villa we turn right towards the pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow the ascending road all the way to the pass Passo Gardena where we park on a paid parking lot (4€ – June 2012).
B) From Nova Gorica, we drive to Italy and further on the highway to the settlement Portogruaro, where at the highway junction we turn in the direction of the settlement Belluno. We follow the highway to its end (we don't turn in the direction towards Belluno), and then we continue driving towards Cortina d'Ampezzo. When we arrive in Cortina d'Ampezzo, we follow the signs for the Alpine pass Passo Falzarego. At the pass Passo Falzarego (2105 m) we turn right in the direction of Alta Badia and first ascend to the neighbouring pass Passo Valparola (2192 m), from there we descend into the mentioned valley. In the settlement La Villa we turn left towards the pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow the ascending road all the way to the pass Passo Gardena where we park on a paid parking lot (4€ – June 2012).

Route description:
From the pass Passo Gardena we head north on the footpath following the signs »Baita Jimmy Hütte«. The path leads us along grassy slopes from which there is a wonderful view of the Sella mountain group to the south and towards Sassolungo to the west. The path along the grassy slopes soon brings us to the road. We continue right on the gravel road, which we follow all the way to the Jimmy Hütte hut.
From the hut we continue on the footpath towards the northeast and begin to ascend through the dwarf pines. The path soon leads us out of the dwarf pines and continues relatively steeply upwards. Higher up the path turns left and follows the ascent to the notch Forcella Cier where a view opens to the north.
On the saddle we cross the fence, then in a slight descent we cross the scree slopes. This path then brings us to a marked junction where the path from the Val de Chedul valley joins from the left.
From the junction the path begins to ascend gently again and continues crossing the slopes towards the northeast. Later the path turns slightly left and follows a somewhat steeper ascent to the notch Forcella de Crespeina.
At the notch where a view opens onto a large part of the Puez mountain group we continue straight ahead, while to the right the path leads over the summit Sas Ciampac. The path then begins to descend and brings us to somewhat flatter grassy terrain. From the path we have a nice view of the Lech de Crespeina lake and Sas Ciampac.
When our path begins to ascend somewhat more steeply again we leave the marked path and head left into pathless terrain. We then walk on pathless grassy terrain in a northerly direction. Ahead of us we will soon notice a grassy summit on which a cairn is placed. At first we walk on fairly level terrain and also descend slightly a few times. In the final section there follows only the ascent up the grassy slope to the summit, which lies above the Vallunga valley.

Along the route: Jimmy Hütte (2222m), Forcella Cier (2469m), Forcella de Crespeina (2528m)

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